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This is POST #1 of three different posts Read post #2 (Act of Writing) AND #3 (Editing Writing Process with Newcomer) A few days ago I shared on social media some amazing writing my newcomers produced after a lesson. My students received many compliments. I was asked about my "magic" to have newcomers writing so much. There is no magic. But, there sure is a LOT of...
I want to share my planning and lessons process to get newcomers to write...and write a lot! I'll make this post as simple as possible because YOU need to take this and make it your OWN. Add your details, ideas, and character to it so it works for the students YOU teach. This lesson is almost towards the end of our first semester. I've served this group of newcomers for several weeks (15 weeks). Be sure to check the previous lessons that contributed to becoming amazing writers. I'll be posting several lessons a little bit at a time. The Process - PART I I introduced the cause-and-effect topic to my students by co-creating an anchor chart. I say co-created because we created it all together. It was not super fancy, but it was multilingual!!! I wrote the following sentence on the chart and had them read it with me. "Something happens BECAUSE something makes it happen." I had students translate the sentence and had volunteers write the translated sentence below the English version. We had the sentence written in 4 different languages. I explained that the CAUSE is the why (reason) and that EFFECT is the what (result). To practice understanding this concept before applying it to text, I had this Jamboard presentation with four sentences to identify the cause (why) and the effect (what). These were simple sentences wit images that helped with comprehension. I gave students sticky notes to place on the anchor chart which part of the sentence is the cause and which is the effect. We did a couple together to model after I read each sentence aloud, chorally reading, and students read alone. I went around and checked their answers before they placed them on the chart. As I went around, I had students read the sentence to me. I was able to assess who was understanding the concept and who needed more support.  The text I picked for students to apply the cause and effect skill was a True Teen article from our Scholastic Action Magazine. The article's title is My New Life with Dad - The story of a teen who not only moves to a new country but also meets her father for the first time. This story was fascinating and compelling for our students since many of them have experienced family separation at some point in their lives. We have the online version subscription so I was able to have students see the text on the screen. Each student had a paper copy of the magazine and a highlighter. I read aloud and had them repeat with me some parts of the article. I used several hand gestures and facial expressions for comprehension. For every important event in the story, I made sure students could retell it in their home language just so I could check comprehension. We focused on place of birth, age, family, feelings, actions, connections, etc. The more interactive the story is, the more they access content, and language acquisition happens. We read only half of the article one day and half the other day. Understand that making students understand in the targeted language should not be rushed and pushed. It is QUALITY over QUANTITY. The article had a cause-and-effect activity towards the end of the article so we used it to practice our skills. The cause is given and we were to find the effects. We used our highlighters to not only highlight important information to help us understand the article but also to box in the effects of the causes given. It was a fun lesson! After working on the skill together, I wanted students to work on an assignment individually to see if they could grasp the concept and able to apply it on their own. So for the independent activity, I showed the clip "For the Birds". I'm sure you've seen this cool clip. It is perfect for students to analyze and share their thinking. I had them create a cause-and-effect organizer on a sheet of paper and had them identify at least 3 causes and effects. This time, students were allowed to use Google Translate because I was assessing the skill, not the language. After they finished, I checked it to verify their answers and had them read it to me. It was a FUN activity and they LOVED the clip!
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